View full sizeDania Maxwell/The OregonianJeff Stone, executive director of Oregon Association of Nurseries, estimates that 70 percent of all nursery workers are undocumented and there would not be enough legal workers to replace them. "We want to make sure that the system is fair, one that is accountable and that businesses do the right thing in terms of hiring legal workers," Stone says. He's leading a group of Oregon businesses calling for comprehensive immigration reform.

WASHINGTON - With Congress edging back into the battle over immigration reform, the leading House proposal is drawing opposition from a surprising place - Oregon businesses.

The Coalition for a Working Oregon, an organization of 22 Oregon business groups is fighting the proposal, putting members at odds with both Republicans and some other business groups.

"In the worst case," he says, "you could see some Oregon operations crumble."

Smith's proposal would require all employers to use a federal database known as E-Verify to confirm that a prospective worker is legal. Currently, 250,000 businesses use E-Verify on a voluntary basis. That number would jump to 6 million if it became mandatory.

The Associated PressRep. Lamar Smith would require all employers to clear workers through the government's E-Verify database or face penalties.

Stone and other critics say E-Verify is riddled with incorrect information and would be quickly overwhelmed if all employers had to use it. Moreover, he argues that the nation’s porous immigration system needs to be comprehensively retooled if the problems are to be fixed and that small-bore proposals like E-Verify fall far short.

Smith says he took those concerns into account by phasing in the requirement. Agriculture, for example, would have three years to comply. He and other House Republicans argue that the country needs muscular verification to ensure that undocumented workers don't take jobs from unemployed American citizens. The system checks a prospective worker's identity against federal records, including Social Security and those maintained by the Department of Homeland Security. As a federal law, it would supplant a tangle of state requirements that confuse businesses.

Laws in Georgia, Utah, Arizona and Indiana have triggered strong opposition, especially from agriculture. Portions of the laws have been struck down by courts.

On Saturday, thousands protesting Georgia's law marched on the state Capitol, less than a week after a judge temporarily blocked parts of it until a legal challenge is resolved. One blocked provision authorizes police to check the immigration status of suspects without proper identification.

But other parts of the law remain in effect. For example, businesses with 500 or more employees must use E-Verify to check the immigration status of new hires starting Jan. 1.

Smith thinks such a requirement should be federal. "You have to show your Social Security number to visit the doctor, go to the bank or buy a home," he says. "It makes sense that businesses would use the same identification to ensure they have a legal workforce by checking the legal status of their employees."

But agriculture groups, with some exceptions like the American Meat Institute, have either opposed or remained silent on Smith's proposal. Even with high unemployment, farmers say they still have a hard time finding workers for arduous jobs.

Immigration reform proposal meets opposition from some Oregon businessesWith Congress edging back into the battle over immigration reform, the leading House proposal is drawing opposition from a surprising place — Oregon businesses. Jeff Stone, executive director of the Oregon Association of Nurseries, calls the legislation “a recipe for disaster, not only for agriculture but for the national economy."

"Unfortunately, the Intel worker who finds himself unemployed will not go dig trees," says Stone, who estimates that 70 percent of the workers in Oregon's nurseries are undocumented.

A 2008 study by Oregon State University economists commissioned by the Coalition for a Working Oregon found that a mandatory, federal verification system would cost Oregon 173,500 jobs in the "short term," which Stone said was three to five years. Of that total, the report said 97,500 would be undocumented workers and 76,000 would be legal workers. The state would also lose $650 million over that same period in tax revenue, according to the study.

"The departure of Oregon's undocumented workers will not lower the unemployment rate," the study said, noting "a mismatch in skills, education and location between undocumented workers and Oregon's unemployed."

Consequently, nursery operators are locking arms with Oregon restaurant owners and a larger bunch that includes labor, clergy and immigrant rights groups. Stone admits the partnership appears unusual. "It's a very Oregon thing to collaborate," he says.

It also means their perspective aligns more closely with Democrats on Capitol Hill, diverging from groups that have been allies in the past.

The Associated PressSen. Robert Menendez wants workers to be checked along with border protection and a means for undocumented immigrants to become citizens.

Menendez's bill would require employment verification. Undocumented immigrants in the U.S. as of June 1, 2011 would have to register with the government, learn English, and pay fines and taxes on their way to becoming Americans. It also calls for tougher enforcement, provides more money to the Border Patrol and improves the system to keep track of who enters the country.

As much as Stone worries, neither bill is likely to become law. Partisanship abounds on Capitol Hill and is even more entrenched on immigration. Smith's bill will probably be blocked in the Senate. Prospects for Menendez's effort are even worse; Republicans abjectly oppose any effort to legalize undocumented immigrants.

Even so, the coalition will continue to push, making clear to politicians what the businesses believe is at stake, Stone says. "If you're 80 percent our friend but the 20 percent puts us out of business, we will have a problem."